Inferno Residue
by unnoticedcow
Summary: Two years after the departure of the Code: Breakers, Sakura finds herself face-to-face with them again, but their assembled arrival is the result of an urgent situation – an organization wanting to reach a dangerous goal. Many new characters are introduced, as well as many new conflicts dealing with financial issues, lovers' quarrels, battles, secrets, and, inevitably, death.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is our joint Code: Breaker fanfiction, which strictly follows the anime, not the manga. Feel free to leave reviews if you enjoyed and/or want to leave constructive criticism, as they are greatly appreciated; however, please refrain from flaming. That said, enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 **Family Reunion**

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" Aoba chirps, catching up to Sakura so that they could walk from school together. "Do you want to go to karaoke tonight?"

"I have to work at the bakery tonight," Sakura answers, sighing outwardly. "How about tomorrow? Tomorrow's my free day."

"Oh, that's right! Okay, then tomorrow at eight, right?" Aoba suggests, and after Sakura nods she adds teasingly, "Maybe we could invite Yamato, too~"

She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively, and Sakura blushes at the act, quickly replying, "We're just _friends_ , Aoba-chan, you know that."

Aoba just giggles at her friend, and when their paths to their destination separate they head in different directions, waving goodbye to each other. Sakura then heads to the local bakery for her shift.

* * *

The bell rings, signaling the last customer of the day. Looking up, Sakura notices the boy Aoba had mentioned earlier that day – Yamato Saito – stroll inside the bakery.

"Oh, hey, Sakura-chan!" Yamato says, a warm smile evident on his face, as well as his beaming chestnut eyes that you could see the sun through, and soft, silky, short ebony hair that framed his face nicely. He was a very tall, lean individual who was quite attractive. "I just came by to get some muffins for my grandma."

Sakura hands him a small rectangular box containing muffins, smiling back at him. "That's kind of you," She comments, though he did this every so often. She prepared herself to ask him to join her and Aoba for karaoke the next day, and although they were close friends she still found herself to be a bit nervous. "Anyway, um, Yamato-kun, are you doing anything tomorrow? At eight?"

Yamato smirks playfully at hearing this and says jokingly, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were asking me out on a date."

"No, I-I'm not!" Sakura answers quickly, knowing how much of a tease Yamato was. "… I mean, only if you want to, at karaoke with Aoba and I."

Yamato smiles, "Sure, I don't see why not."

* * *

While walking home, Sakura was thinking about her date with Yamato and Aoba scheduled for the next day. It was every so often that she, Aoba, and Yamato would go somewhere together, whenever they all could. She was glad that she and Yamato had become friends, and incidentally he was the one who helped her after, well, after the Code: Breakers had all left her.

Out of nowhere, she thought, _He's done more for me than Ogami ever did. I wonder if Ogami would be jealous._ She immediately stops walking and shakes her head, _Where did that come from?_ She hadn't thought about Ogami for a while, or any of the Code: Breakers for that matter, especially since it had been two years since she last saw them. She remembered being terribly sad that Ogami never said goodbye to her. Even _Heike_ bided her farewell; _Heike!_ She couldn't stand Ogami, but she couldn't avoid the fact that she missed him.

Sakura scoffs, shaking her head again, thinking that she had to stop thinking about the past. She figured she would never see Ogami, or any of the Code: Breakers, ever again. She decided she'd put those "trivial" matters aside, and focus on the present.

Suddenly, Sakura felt something pinch the side of her neck, and although she became immediately alert and turned around, putting her guard back up, drowsiness began to take over her. She lost the strength to stand up, and she found herself falling. Her vision became blurry, and just before her eyes closed shut she saw three figures standing before her, watching her fall.

* * *

"You idiot, you probably killed her." Sakura heard a quiet, subtle voice say angrily. "Knowing you, it'd be no surprise if you couldn't even inject her properly, dumbass."

Another voice that was slightly higher-pitched answers furiously, "It's not my fault! You probably chose the wrong girl, or gave me the wrong vaccine or something!"

"Leader told us she's the one, so she is. No questions asked." The other guy retorts, answering exasperatedly yet composed.

Sakura's consciousness slowly came back to her, and she began to realize that her movements were restrained; in closer inspection, it seemed as though her hands, arms and legs were tied.

"Stop arguing like spoiled little brats for once! You two idiots didn't even notice that the girl woke up!" A well-composed, low-pitched female voice chides.

The three kidnappers all turn to look at Sakura, who had indeed fully woken up and regained her consciousness.

"W… Where am I?! Who are you people?!" Sakura shrills, furrowing her brows as she struggled against the ropes tying her hands and legs together.

Leaning against the wall and crossing his arms, a black-haired, fairly tall man with brown eyes says, "Do you really think we're going to answer your stupid questions?"

Sakura recognizes his voice as the first voice she heard when she woke up.

"Hibiki's right. Don't ask stupid questions, little girl." The female says.

"You know, you don't look that much older than me."

The older woman with bright, long crimson hair, amethyst glaring eyes, and tawny tan skin glared in response. She was noticeably taller than the two boys she was with, and in addition to all that she was very pretty, though she seemed like the type who didn't take crap from anyone.

The blonde-haired, green-eyed man cackles in laughter, "She sure got you there, Izumi. Baka~" He says, extending the "a" in "baka". He was somewhat the same height as Hibiki, though noticeably much more… energetic.

"You keep quiet, Renzo!" Izumi booms, punching the said Renzo.

"Are you _really_ the ones who kidnapped me?" Sakura asks in disbelief, raising a questioning eyebrow.

Picking at his nails, Hibiki retorts sarcastically, "Are you _really_ the one who couldn't defend herself, or even notice that we just walked up behind you? Are you really the said "Karate Black-Belt"? Ha. Don't make me laugh."

Sakura pouts at hearing this, remembering that when they were about to kidnap her, she was lost in thought thinking about Ogami. She felt her cheeks heat up; _I always have to think of that stupid idiot at the worst moments, don't I? Why am I still not over him after all these years?_

"T… That was different! I was thinking about… something!" Sakura blurts out, stuttering. "Wait, how did you know I was a black belt?"

"That doesn't matter." Hibiki answers, raising an eyebrow. "And what exactly were you thinking about? Your Code: Breaker boyfriend?"

Sakura's eyes widen at the statement, but right when she is about to object and question how he knew all of these things about her, the door to the strange room goes flying.

She then heard the words, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and the steel hammer of justice of – Sakura-chan?"

* * *

Yuuki jumps when he hears Sakura's name, and exclaims in complete surprise and delight, "Nyan-chan!"

He then leaps off the roof and heads to the building where Toki was. Ogami just stood there, trying to remember who was this "Nyan-chan" Yuuki mentioned. _"Nyan-chan… Who is that? Wait… Sakura?"_ After remembering this, he immediately follows Yuuki.

* * *

"Toki? What are you doing here?" Sakura asks in disbelief.

"I could be asking you the same –" He was interrupted by Yuuki falling from the roof, hugging Sakura.

"Nyan-chan!"

"Yuuki?"

"Hn, it's been a long time, Sakurakouji." Sakura hears a voice say behind Yuuki.

Sakura's eyes widen at the sound of the voice, the voice that her mind wouldn't let her forget. She tears her sight away from Yuuki to see Ogami standing in the doorway.

"O-Ogami?" Sakura says softly, stammering and stumbling around her words. The feelings had returned – the heart-hammering, the hand-sweating, the nervousness, the lump in her throat.

"What a sweet family reunion. How touching~" Renzo sarcastically states.

Hibiki then adds, "I see you brought your Code: Breaker boyfriend."

Ogami raises his eyebrow, and asks, "What?"

Sakura answers quickly, causing her to stutter, "N-Nothing! For-Forget about it, Ogami!"

"Whatever." Ogami responds, then says, "Nonetheless, you must be eradicated."

He looks at Renzo, stretching his arm to him and starting his blue fire, beginning to recite his Code of Hammurabi. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and evil for ev –"

Ogami widens his eyes in surprise when his blue flames suddenly extinguishes. "What?"

"What a nice little trick. Have you been working hard on that?" Renzo sarcastically says while smirking. Hibiki suddenly grabs him with one hand and Izumi with the other before they all suddenly disappeared. A faint female voice could be heard saying, "See ya losers" before that.

"What just happened?" Toki asks with a blank expression.

* * *

"So, Sakura-chan, what were you doing there with them?" Toki questions, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, they kidnapped me. And, now that you mention it, they injected me with some weird fluid." Sakura replies thoughtfully.

"They chose _you_ of all people?" Toki asks.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Sakura demands, a bit offended. "Wait, what do you mean " _chose"_?"

Raising his finger a-matter-of-factly, Toki starts to explain, "Well, you see –"

Shoving Toki on his shoulder, Ogami whispers without Sakura hearing, "We're not supposed to tell her."

Toki, a bit irritated that everyone had been interrupting him all day, whispers, "Whatever".

Sakura just shrugs, dropping the subject since she was tired and just wanted to go home, turning the corner in the direction of her house.

"Nyan-chan, your house is this way!" Yuuki advises, pointing in a different direction.

"Did the injection make you forgetful or something? Or did you just become this forgetful without me?" Toki asks jokingly.

Giving a small smile, Sakura says, "No, my house is this way now."

The Code: Breakers give each other questioning looks, but follow her anyway. When they arrive, expecting to see a noble family mansion, they see a crappy apartment building instead.

"What is this dump?" Toki asks bluntly.

Ogami punches his shoulder and glares at him.

"What happened, Nyan-chan? Are we at the wrong place?" Yuuki asks, worried.

"Nope! This is my new home." Sakura says with a fake smile. "This is what I can afford from working at the bakery. But I'll see you around; I have to go now and I can't invite you over since I still have to do some homework and study. Bye!"

She walks away and heads toward the apartment building.

"What happened?" Toki asks no one in particular, baffled.

"It's none of our concern." Ogami says, while walking away with his hands in his pockets.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Pleasant Surprises**

"Ugh, not this one." Sakura complains, throwing aside yet another shirt from her small closet. "This one sucks, too!"

Her date with Yamato and Aoba was scheduled to start in less than an hour and after many clothes being thrown aside, she still hadn't chosen an outfit. After twenty more minutes of trying to choose, she finally picked the perfect blouse and jeans when suddenly her cellphone started to ring. _It must be Aoba-chan_ , Sakura thought. When she looked to see who it was, the screen read " _Unknown_ ".

Annoyed, she declined and went back to getting ready, thinking it must be one of those advertisers. One minute later, the phone rang again. She picked up the phone and demandingly said, "Listen! I don't want to buy any of your stupid lotions!"

There is a slight silence until a deep voice says, "I assure you, Ms. Sakurakouji, I have no intention of selling you any lotions."

Sakura widens her eyes at this, and stutters in response, "W-Who are you?"

"Look outside."

Sakura walks to the window and does just that, though she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Just cars, and people walking on the sidewalk.

"I-I don't see anything." She says slowly.

"Wherever there are shadows, I'll be watching." The voice says in response, and hangs up.

* * *

Walking to karaoke, Sakura thinks back to the creepy phone call earlier.

 _It was probably just some childish prank. Yeah, that's it. I shouldn't be getting so worked up over it._ Sakura thought.

As she got closer to the karaoke restaurant, she noticed Yamato waving at her with his signature smile.

"Yamato-kun!" Sakura yells happily. "Oh, I'm sorry, am I late?"

"Don't worry, I'm just early. I don't like making people wait for me." Yamato explains, still smiling. "Come on, let's go ins –"

"Nyan-chan!"

Turning her head towards the voice, Sakura notices Yuuki about to tackle her down in a hug.

"Y-Yuuki –" She falls back on the floor with Yuuki holding her tightly. Yamato chuckles softly at the questionable sight.

Suddenly, someone grabs Yuuki by the back of his collar as if he was a cat, pulling him away from Sakura. She noticed it was Ogami who did this, accompanied by Toki.

"Watch your back, Yuuki, someone's jealous~" Toki says playfully. Ogami only glares in response.

"Yuuki? Ogami? Toki? What're you guys doing here?" Sakura asks, surprised.

"We just wanted to hang out~" Toki answers.

"But what are _you_ doing here, Nyan-chan?" Yuuki questions.

"Oh, I'm here on a date with Yamato and… Aoba?" Sakura trails off, noticing that her best friend still wasn't present when it was well after eight. "Yamato, where's Aoba-chan?"

"She didn't call you? She said she couldn't make it."

Sakura then realized Aoba only told her to come to get her alone with Yamato, and she mentally rolled her eyes. Ever since she and Yamato became friends, Aoba had always tried to get them together, but in all honesty Sakura just couldn't. And she knew Aoba was only doing those things to cheer her up after Ogami's "departure". She knew that if Aoba realized Ogami was back, she would freak and yell at him for just leaving without a word, and for leaving Sakura… different for a while after.

"Well, then, it's just us, Yamato." Sakura says, sighing.

"I guess so," Yamato responds. "Why don't we go sit in a booth with your friends?"

"That's a great idea~" Toki says with a devious smile.

"Sounds like a plan." Sakura agrees.

When they arrive at the booth, a splendid surprise awaits them.

"Hello~"

"Heike-san? You're here, too?" Sakura asks, astonished.

There was another person accompanying Heike.

"Yo."

Sakura saw the one and only Prince, the fifth Code: Breaker, sitting casually next to Heike. She also saw a girl sitting beside them that she didn't recognize. She had shoulder-length, choppy dyed blonde hair with dark brown eyes and olive skin. She looked quite comfortable, as her feet were on top of the table and her arms were resting behind her head.

"Oh, who's this? I don't think I've met her before." Sakura questions.

The girl looks at her, and says confidently, "The name's Yui Satoshi, I'm the sixth Code: Breaker. I'm quite acquainted with Heike-senpai~" She explains, casually putting her arm around Heike's shoulders. Heike rolls his eyes at her laidback attitude.

"Well, it's nice to meet you." Sakura says, raising her hand for a hand-shake.

Yui just eyes her, judging her, and in response she says, "Wish I could say the same for you."

Sakura widens her eyes at hearing this, and awkwardly retreats her hand.

"Please, don't mind her atrocious manners." Heike says, somewhat comforting Sakura. He then turns to Yui and says, "We have guests, do you mind removing your feet from the table?"

"Yeah, I do. I'm fine, so no, thank you." She responds.

"You should really respect your superiors." Heike says, sighing. Yui glares at him and mutters a "whatever" while putting her legs down and sitting upright. Yamato, easing up the tension, decided to introduce himself.

"Well, hello, I'm Yamato Saito." He says with a smile.

Yui smiles mischievously at Sakura. "Who's he? Your boytoy?"

Sakura expected Yamato to be as surprised as she was, but he just answered her with a steady voice and a smile, "No, nothing like that. We're just friends."

"Why don't we sit down?" Sakura intervened.

Everyone sits around the booth, but no one said a word.

"Well, this is awkward. Why isn't anyone saying anything? You guys are no fun." Yui says, bored.

"Uh, well, how did you guys meet each other?" Yamato asks, trying to start conversation.

Sakura considered telling him the truth about how she met the Code: Breakers, but thought otherwise when she realized her first encounter with Ogami was when she saw him burning people alive.

"Well, some of us went to the same school, and it kind of continued form there." Sakura half-lies.

"I'm wondering the same thing about you and Yamato. How did you two meet~?" Toki asks.

Yamato suddenly puts an arm around Sakura, "We've been really close friends for about two years. She looked really lonely one day at school, so I decided to become friends with her." Yamato explains a-matter-of-factly.

Toki sees with his peripheral vision Ogami narrowing his eyes and glaring at Yamato at his actions but Toki didn't really bother to comment about it.

Sakura gets up from her seat, oblivious to Ogami's sudden jealousy, "I have to use the restroom. I'll just be a minute."

After Sakura goes to the restroom, Yui leans on Yamato's shoulder and says, "So, tell us the truth. Are you two dating?"

At hearing this, you could almost feel the jealousy vibe waving off of Ogami.

* * *

Washing her hands, Sakura muses on her relationship with Yamato. They've been friends for almost two years, but Sakura had to admit, Yamato was pretty attractive; and to add to that, he was always considerate, humorous, kind, and basically everything Sakura dreamed of in a person.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her sudden coughing. She looked at her hand and saw her hand filled with a crimson metallic liquid. _Blood._ Out of nowhere, the mirror in front of her cracked.

"What the…" She says, stepping back and staring in horror. Was there something wrong with her?

She shook her head, noticing that she was taking an awful long time. And before they could think something was up, she washed up and left the restroom, trying to forget what had happened.

Returning to the booth, Sakura notices that there is a bit of tension between Ogami and Yamato (though, really, Ogami was the one glaring darkly at Yamato, and Yamato was just smiling).

"What took you so long?" Yui complains, rolling her eyes.

"Sorry about that," Sakura apologizes politely before sitting back down next to Yamato, though she didn't think anyone would notice something was up.

"Where's our food at, anyway?" Rui asks, trying to break the tension.

Suddenly, a phone starts ringing. Yamato takes out his ringing phone and narrows his eyes for a second at the caller.

"I have to take this. Please excuse me for a minute,"

Yamato walks away, answering his phone with a serious expression.

"Do you think something's up?" Sakura asks, worried.

"Maybe he's talking to his other girlfriend," Yui comments while taking a sip of her drink.

Sakura ignores the young girl when Prince says, "Oh, look at that, he's coming back. That was a short talk."

Sakura turns around to see Yamato coming back with a sad smile, "I have to get home, something came up." He says, putting on his jacket.

"Is everything okay?" Sakura asks.

"Yeah, my grandma just needs some new meds." He explains. "It was nice meeting your friends and your boyfriend. Bye!" He says, walking out the door.

"Goodby – Wait, boyfriend?!" Sakura shouts at Yamato's disappearing back.

"I wonder who he meant when he said that~" Toki whispers playfully to Ogami.

"Bye! Thanks for the ride!" Sakura says, smiling and thanking Prince for the ride home on her motorcycle.

"It was nothing, okay?" Prince says quickly, flustered, before driving away quickly.

Sakura giggles, and takes out the keys to her apartment.

After walking up eight flights of stairs (the elevator was permanently broken), she opens the door to her room and sighs, "Home sweet home." She says, removing her shoes at the door. Instead of the usual silence, she heard video game noises. It sounded like… _Pok_ _é_ _mon_?

 _What the hell, is there someone in my room?_ Sakura thought.

She turns the light on nervously to find a familiar man playing a DS game on her couch. He looks at Sakura and says, "It took you a while, Sakurakouji. Welcome home."

"Hey – I know you!" Sakura claims. "You're the one who kidnapped me!"

The man closes his game console and sits upright. "Mhm, I see you remember me." He says quietly. "My name's Hibiki. We need to talk."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Unwanted Visitors**

"Get out of my apartment!" Sakura yells at the unwanted visitor sitting calmly on her couch.

"This doesn't count as an apartment, now does it?" Hibiki says bluntly, ignoring her request and evading the pillow thrown at him.

"What are you even doing here? You _kidnapped_ me, just _yesterday_! I don't think we have this kind of relationship!" Sakura says all at once, exasperated. She stops to take a long exhale.

"I _told_ you, we need to talk. Now." Hibiki replies. "Plus, that wasn't personal, so no hard feelings, okay?"

"… How do I know you won't try something again?" Sakura asks cautiously.

"You don't." Hibiki says, shrugging. "You'll just have to trust me. Now, there's a reason why you were kidnapped and injected."

"Yeah, I've been wondering that for a while now. But you're not just going to come out and tell me, are you?"

"Yes, actually. Take a seat and grab some popcorn while you're at it. This is going to take a while."

Sakura narrows her eyes, cautious, but sits down nevertheless. "I don't have popcorn."

Hibiki ignores her comment, and starts to explain, "You're what many would call an Eshinenant."

"… What? I don't have time for old folktales."

"By legend, an Eshinenant is a being created by the demon king Lucifer, to merge heaven, hell, and the living world into one." Hibiki continues. "An Eshinenant is born every two hundred years, and they are known to die young. That's why we were eager to inject you when we saw that you were alive. Obviously we had to wait a few years before we could take action since you're so young."

"What do you mean 'wait a few years'?" Sakura asks wearily.

"We've been watching you since you were twelve. You were actually my first assignment." Hibiki says nonchalantly.

Sakura was surprised then disgusted, then lastly angry, "Are you saying that you've been spying on me for five years?!" Sakura yells.

Hibiki just stares at her blankly and answers, "Yes."

"What the hell is wrong with you?! That's a total invasion of privacy! I could call the police on you, you know!" Sakura says angrily. She takes a deep breath before continuing. "You know what, get out!" She yells, standing up. Hibiki just glares at her before slowly standing up.

"Okay, say I leave right now. Me leaving this apartment without giving you any help will cause not only your death, but the total downfall of this world. I don't know about you, but I like Heaven and Hell exactly where they are." Hibiki replies harshly.

Sakura slowly sits back down before quietly saying, "Continue."

Hibiki just smiles at her before saying, "I need your promise that you will help me, without telling anyone. I need your word."

There was a long silence before either of the two said a word.

"Fine." Sakura says, thinking of Hibiki's earlier words.

Hibiki smirks and heads towards the window, opening it. "Oh, and one more thing." He says, looking back at Sakura. "Trust _no one_."

He then jumps out the window. When Sakura rushes to the window, there's no sight of him.

* * *

"I don't trust that guy." Ogami says, referring to Yamato, suspicious.

"Oh, you're just jealous because you're in love with Sakura-chan." Toki says a-matter-of-factly. Ogami just ignores him.

"Jesus freaking Christ, we've been here for two hours, can we leave already?" Yui asks impatiently, leaning on Heike's shoulder comfortably. Heike just gives her an annoyed side glance while sipping his tea.

"We leave when Yuuki decides that he wants to go." Heike replies.

"That might take a while." Prince intervenes. "He's having a lot of fun up there."

The trio then turns their heads to Yuuki singing some cheesy Nyan-maru song on the stage. "Nyan, Nyan, Nyanmaru is everyone's friend! With a kind heart, he is every cat's friend!"

"Doesn't that guy have sonar hearing or something? Can't he hear how horrible he sounds?" Yui asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Life is but fleeting and frail! He understands sadness better than anyone!" Yuuki sang on.

Yui sighs exasperatedly.

* * *

Sakura sat on her bed staring at nothing in particular for quite a while, replaying the scene with Hibiki in her head. _What did he want with me? Was it all a joke? He did say not to trust anyone, doesn't that mean I shouldn't trust him either?_ Sakura thought to herself, becoming more frustrated by the minute and throwing her cellphone at the wall in rage. For a second, she stood staring at her phone, and for some reason decided to dial Ogami's number. She was scared, terrified by the news Hibiki had told her, and Ogami always was the one who protected her, wasn't he? Still, it was as if her body was acting on its own.

After a few rings, she hears Ogami's voice on the other line, " _What_?"

Sakura winces at Ogami's cold tone; had she done something to anger him?

"U-Um… Ogami – Ne-Nevermind!" Flustered, she quickly hangs up the phone, holding her blushing face in her hands. _What was I thinking?_

After thirty minutes had passed, Sakura was lying on her bed trying to get some sleep and hoping Ogami had disregarded the call when a sudden knocking jolted her up. A bit out of it, she wearily walked over to the door and opened it slightly to see who it was. At the other side of the door, she saw none other than Ogami.

Her eyes widened in surprise; she immediately tried to shut the door in his face but Ogami put his foot on the door, stopping her from closing it.

Wasting no time, Ogami quickly asks her, "Why did you call?"

"Why do you care?" Sakura answers with another question quickly, evading the question. She tries to shut the door again, but Ogami glares at her before completely overpowering her and opening the door.

He repeats, "I'll ask once more. _Why did you call_ , Sakurakouji?"

Sakura, angry at Ogami's dominating nature, yells in a fit, "Ugh! Nothing! I accidentally butt-dialed you!"

They stood there staring at each other before Ogami says, "You're not a good liar, Sakurakouji. You never were."

* * *

The blonde haired man stood at the bus stop nervously, waiting for his leader.

 _I'm a mess,_ He thinks to himself, Goosebumps forming on his arms. _What will Hibiki say?_

Renzou isn't one to be easily frightened, but when Izumi told him he was to meet up with their leader, he couldn't help but be a little afraid.

"Apologizes for my lateness."

Renzou jumps at the voice before turning around. He couldn't see his face; it was hidden behind a veil of fire.

"… It's alright, I wasn't waiting long."

Renzou cursed at himself; his voice was shaking, and it took all his willpower not to stutter. He sounded so incredibly weak.

"I sincerely apologize for having you take my place in collecting information on the subject," The man says in a somewhat sarcastic tone. "I do hope you can forgive me."

Renzou only just met the leader, and in all honesty he didn't like how he was toying with him like this.

"So, did anything worth my time happen with the subject?" The leader asks before Renzou could answer.

Renzou considers his answer for a moment, and answers, "Not really. But that Code: Breaker guy did come over to her apartment. I tried to listen to their conversation, but couldn't. What they were talking about didn't seem worthwhile anyway." He trails off, looking at the ground.

"Oh, _really_?" The leader asks.

The leader's voice was dark, deep, and menacing, enough to send a young child crying. There was only three people who knew what he looked like, and that was Hibiki, Hikaru, and the leader's boyfriend.

"You should know by now that any information acquirable is vital to our cause," The leader says in a more serious tone. "Don't make the same mistake next time."

Renzou flinches at his harsh tone, but replies nevertheless, "Yes."

"Yes _what_?" The leader asks, tone amused. Renzou swore he could see an amused grin through the veil of fire.

"Yes, sir."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **Quarrels & Spilled Sake**

"You're not a good liar, Sakurakouji." Ogami says. "You never were."

Sakura stutters a little, flustered by the moment, and blurts out quickly, "Stop acting like you know everything about me, Ogami, because you don't! You were gone for like two years without breathing a word of goodbye to me; do you have any idea how that made me feel, even now?" Her voice broke for a moment, before she spoke up again. "So just shut up already, Ogami!"

There was a brief silence in the room, only the sound of Sakura's heavy breathing audible and the loud roar of the cheap air conditioner installed into the small room.

"So that's what this is about." Ogami says in a low whisper.

Sakura yells, "No, Ogami! That's not why I called! When will you understand that not everything is about you?"

Ogami then suddenly put his hand over her mouth.

"Somebody is watching us." Ogami whispers in her ear.

Ogami walks to the window, taking quick and cautious steps, and catches a glimpse of a figure fleeing out of sight. He turns around to a furious Sakura, who seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"Can't you put aside your stupid precautions for one minute? I bet there wasn't anyone even out there, was there?!" Sakura yells in fury.

Ogami considers his answer before saying in a monotone tone, "No, there wasn't."

"You see? That was just an excuse to avoid confrontation with me! Ugh, you know what? Just get out of here already! You make me sick, Ogami!" Sakura yells, opening the door for him to leave.

Ogami stares at her for a moment, considering whether or not the situation at hand, or rather the reason Sakura called (which he wasn't sure of as of yet) was urgent and serious for him to stay.

"Alright." Ogami says, walking out the door. Before he leaves, he asks seriously, "But if anything happens, you'll call me, right?"

Sakura frowns, a bit shaken by Ogami's somewhat concerned tone, "Whatever."

She slams the door in his face, breathing heavily after the terrible incident that had just occurred. She _did_ want to have a talk with Ogami, but not like this.

Sakura thought to herself, _Maybe I shouldn't have overreacted so much. He was only trying to help._

* * *

"Oi, Ogami sure was in a hurry~" Toki says in a playful manner, referring to how Ogami had left immediately after receiving a phone call.

They were still at the Karaoke place after, what, 2 hours? Yuuki was still singing along to the same song he had started singing two hours ago. No doubt, some song from the Nyan Maru thing he loves so much.

"I bet you that was his girlfriend he never told us about." Yui says a-matter-of-factly.

"Let's not be silly," Heike says. "We all know Ogami has a thing for Sakurakouji."

Prince, who had been silent for most of the night, says, "Maybe we should keep out of Ogami's love life."

Toki scoffs, and walks out of the karaoke place, hands in pockets.

"What are you doing?" Yui asks.

"Exactly what Prince told me not to do," Toki responds, walking away.

Yui looks at Heike and Prince, and shrugs, "I have nothing better to do." She says, following Toki's trail.

Prince sighs, following after, whilst Heike sips his cup of tea, eventually sighing and leaving the booth, going after them.

"Someday, everyone will remember! Vanquishing all evil! The preciousness of life! Seize the day while we're still alive!" Yuuki sang on, oblivious to the fact that his friends had left him alone. "Nyan, Nyan, Nyanmaru loves life!"

"Nyanchi!"

* * *

Once they arrived to the front of Sakura's apartment, they quickly jumped into the bushes to hide, Heike pinching his nose and wondering what in the world he was doing.

"What are we even doing here?" Heike asks.

Toki rolls his eyes, "Isn't it obvious? We're waiting for Ogami to…" He trails off, noticing some sort of shadow near the edge of the building. "Yuuki, can you –"

He meant to ask Yuuki if he could use his super hearing to see if there really was a strange person lurking around the building, but he was nowhere to be found. Toki cursed to himself; if he knew he knew this was going to happen, that Yuuki was going to be useful, he would have stopped him from singing and brought him along.

"What is it?" Prince asks, questioning Toki's death glare at a couple of inanimate bushes.

"You noticed it, too, didn't you, Heike?" Toki questions knowingly.

Heike takes a sip from his cup of tea and smiles, "I wouldn't miss something important like that."

"How the hell do you still have tea right now?" Yui asks, rolling her eyes.

Heike was about to answer, but stopped when he noticed Ogami walking out of the front door, looking around as if searching for something, or someone.

"What is it?" Prince asks again.

Toki stays silent before saying, "He's gone."

The four individuals try to squeeze deeper into the bushes, trying to stay out of Ogami's sight as he walked closer and closer, away from the apartment building.

"Why the hell are you guys following me?" Ogami says loudly enough for the four individuals to hear.

In some bushes, he sees Toki, Prince, and the new Code: Breaker come out of hiding.

"It seems we've been discovered." Heike says before taking a sip of his tea and coming into sight.

Ogami ignores his comment, and says, "Toki, were you the one outside spying on Sakura and I?" He was clearly hiding his rage.

"No, but I think we saw the same person." Toki answers.

"You and Sakura, huh?" Yui says, wiggling her eyebrows at Ogami.

Toki continues on, ignoring her, "As I was saying, I think we saw the same person. I saw some weird figure leaving."

"And you decided not to do anything about it." Ogami replies back with clear annoyance.

"By the time I turned back around, the person was gone." Toki explains.

"Well maybe you should have been more attentive. No _real_ Code: Breaker would be distracted so easily like a mere child." Ogami spits.

"Well maybe you shouldn't be so angry over, what, a stupid lovers' quarrel? Is that why you're so angry?" Toki asks, deducing what had happened.

"I'm _not_ angry." Ogami mutters.

"That so?" Toki asks sarcastically.

"Hey, now, calm down." Prince says, trying to stop a fight from happening. However, the two were already saying their Code of Hammurabi.

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and evil for evil," Ogami says in a low whisper, blue flames appearing on his hands at full accessibility.

Toki said the same, except replaced "evil for evil" with "the steel hammer of justice". He swung his arms as particles of sand appeared around them.

"Another quarrel," Prince says tiredly, pinching the bridge of her nose as she stepped back.

"You'd think they were siblings or something." Yui adds, whilst Heike sat comfortably on a picnic bench sipping his tea and enjoying the show. Though, of course, if things got out of hand he would interfere.

The battle began, with Toki making more movements towards Ogami and creating a pillar of various metal objects around him and throwing it towards Ogami.

With his enhanced reflexes and strength, Ogami dodged the attacks somewhat, though occasionally getting hit by an object.

"What's the matter, Ogami? Are you too spaced out from your little quarrel with Sakura to focus? Ridiculous." Toki teases, grinning as he continued to use his ability to manipulate magnetism to his advantage.

Ogami hisses in rage, mind overcome with guilt, anger, concern, and confusion from his quarrel with Sakura to think rationally. His cool and collected expression from before was just a front. He knew Toki was right, and yet he continued to rage by turning his entire arm into fire and swinging it towards Toki, though Toki kept his distance by throwing objects at him.

Various public objects were either incinerated or thrown about recklessly, and eventually the noise reached Sakura's, and any of her neighbors for that matter (though most were asleep by now), ears. She sighs outwardly, for this was the second time today she had been interrupted while trying to get some sleep, and ultimately that argument with Ogami made anything infuriate her.

She looks out the window, and sees fragments of sand in the flow of the air with public objects caught aflame. Seeing this only made her irritated and furious, as it meant Ogami and Toki were having another stupid, probably pointless battle. Sakura slips on her sweater and slippers, still wearing her pajama shorts and tank top, and walks out of her apartment and towards the noise.

She found Ogami and Toki battling quite seriously whilst Heike, Prince, and Yui sat on the sidelines. Sakura, enraged, stomped towards them.

The three bystanders noticed her first, and though Heike tried to stop her, it was too late.

Sakura stood right in the middle of Ogami and Toki, who were about to land direct hits on each other.

"Just quit it already, will you? I'm tired of all these arguments and battles! You two are acting like spoiled little children!" She yells angrily.

"Sakurakouji, get out of there! You're not safe!" Heike warns, concerned. This whole fiasco was somewhat comparable to the time when she had stopped Toki and Ogami's battle nearly two years ago; however, this time she was only able to grab Toki's wrist and swing him around, sending him flying in another direction. When she turned towards Ogami to do the same, her body froze all of a sudden. Seeing Ogami again after that dispute sent various mixed emotions running through her mind.

His eyes were full of concentration and anger towards Toki, showing no signs of stopping. It took him much too long to process the fact that Sakura had gotten in the way.

Ogami's eyes widened when he finally realized he was about to land a direct hit on Sakura. He wanted to yell, _What the hell, idiot? Get out of the way!_ But everything happened in the blink of an eye, so he wasn't able to say it, nor was he able to stop.

There was a long silence after it happened.

Rei Ogami had just ((accidentally)) punched Sakurakouji Sakura straight on the side of her right cheek, his blue flames still aflame at the time.

Yui whispers, "It's all fun and games until someone else gets punched in the face."

Heike nudges her shoulder, though still amused, and answers in a low whisper, "This isn't the time."

It was still silent, and Sakura's bangs were covering her face as she looked down and started to shake. She mumbles, "Is this what you wanted?"

Tears were forming around her eyes, and her voice rose with every spoken word.

Ogami quickly recovered from his shock, before he put his hands in his pockets and turned around.

"I'm done here." He says in a low whisper.

"You're a _coward_ , Ogami! All you can ever do is run away!" Toki insults as Ogami walks away.

* * *

Hibiki could be restlessly impatient in the right circumstances, especially when he's been waiting for over two hours in this godforsaken diner.

"Would you like to order anything, sir?" A waitress asks politely.

Hibiki looks up at the waitress in front of him. Darcy – her name tag read. She was evidently American; her rusty accent gave it away, as did her foreign name. The majority of her wavy brown hair was tied up into a neat bun, two strips of her hair lay at either side, framing her face nicely. Her green eyes fluttered in patience, coated with light eyeliner.

"No, thank you." Hibiki answers, smiling.

"It won't hurt you – You've been here for over two hours and haven't ordered anything. To be honest, I'm supposed to have kicked you out by now." She chuckles. "Are you waiting for someone?"

Hibiki nods.

"Alright, well –"

The bell on the door of the diner rings, signaling the arrival of a new customer.

"Welcome to Planet Diner!" Darcy chirps after turning around, smiling at the new customer.

"Thank you." The man responds. Hibiki recognizes the voice – it belonged to the person who he had been waiting for, Hikaru.

Hikaru sits opposite to Hibiki on the booth. "Sorry I'm late."

"Why, you kept this poor man waiting for hours, Hikaru-san." Darcy says, hands on her hips. She recognized Hikaru, as he came to the diner quite often.

Hikaru chuckles, "Something had come up, Darcy." He always had trouble pronouncing her name correctly, sounding more like Dalcy than Darcy.

"Hm. I'm sure something did." Darcy says, shaking her head. "Now, I assume you two are ready to order?"

"Two cups of sake is fine. Warm, like usual." Hikaru responds, his order rolling from his tongue almost subconsciously from how many times he had ordered the same thing.

"Two warm sake coming right up!" Darcy chirps, smiling and taking the menu from Hibiki's side of the table.

Hibiki raises an eyebrow at Hikaru; not at how familiar he was with the waitress, but at how long he had kept him waiting. Beyond his calm demeanor, Hikaru knew Hibiki was fuming with unspoken anger.

"What? I said I was sorry." Hikaru repeats, rolling his eyes irritably.

"Sorry my ass. I've been waiting for two goddamn hours, Hikaru!" Hibiki whispers loudly, furrowing his brows.

"No need to be so angry, oniisan. I had some unfinished business I needed to take care of."

"You still could have called."

"Maybe I was too busy to call." Hikaru says, annoyance evident on his tone of voice. "Stop making a big deal out of everything."

"Then stop behaving like a brat."

Hikaru flinches at the rude name-calling, and glares at his brother, "Stop calling me that."

Hibiki only stares at Hikaru, not even putting in the effort to respond. His stare seemed to reflect disdain and repugnance.

"Don't look at me like that." Hikaru says, his voice shaking from restrained anger.

"Like what?" Hibiki asks, though he had an idea of why Hikaru was getting all worked up.

"Like you're disgusted with me!" He says loudly, banging his fist on the table.

The loud rattling of the table and his rising voice caught the attention of other customers around the diner; they were beginning to stare in curiosity.

"Calm down, Hikaru. You're making a scene." Hibiki says in a low whisper, avoiding the gaze of the nosy people around him.

Raising his voice, Hikaru continues, "You're never going to get over that night, are you? You're going to hold it against me for the rest of my life!"

"Must we really speak of this in the middle of a diner?" Hibiki asks.

"Why don't you just accept the fact that it was an accident? You think I wanted to kill them?" Hikaru yells.

"Stop this, Hikaru." Hibiki growls, glaring at his brother.

"Stop treating me like I'm inferior to you!" Hikaru yells, reaching over the table and grabbing the collar of Hibiki's shirt.

"Is there a problem?" The manager of the diner asks, placing a hand on Hikaru's shoulder. He was an elderly man with a calm, reserved demeanor. "I think you should leave if you're to continue making a ruckus."

"Get your damn hand off of me, old man!" Hikaru shouts furiously. His voice shook with rage, and as his wrath was unleashed sudden outbursts of lightning crashed upon the diner.

It only lasted for a second or two, yet the result was deadly.

Hikaru had messed up again.

The horrendous sight of burnt corpses scattered around the diner was Hibiki's cue to leave. He purses his lips and says, "This is why I hold you in contempt for their deaths."

"I didn't ask to be this way." Hikaru mutters, clenched fists pulling at his hair.

Hibiki walks over the several corpses to the exit; the sprawled out body of Darcy the waitress fallen on the ground. Not far from her twitching fingers lay two cups of spilled sake.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Check out the previous chapter. Several things were edited and events were added.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 **Revelations**

Sakura sat on a chair in her local coffee shop, looking out the window

 _Where is he? He's always on time; early even! It isn't like him to be late._ Sakura thinks to herself, sighing.

It had already been a week since the incident with Ogami and Toki happened, and she hadn't seen any of the Code: Breakers since then. She had decided to call Yamato for a small get together in a nice coffee shop to her her mind off of things.

Sakura had tried to talk to Aoba beforehand; however, whenever Sakura tried to talk to her about Ogami, she would only wiggle her eyebrows or perform similar acts that only made Sakura feel worse. Sakura knew Aoba meant well, but she needed someone more suitable to talk to about matters like this.

The only other person she could talk to, Yamato, was late to their scheduled meeting by nearly forty minutes. Sakura hadn't just left a long time ago because she really needed someone to talk to; she knew keeping all of these feelings bottled up wasn't good for her.

Sighing, Sakura gets up from her seat, money in hand for the coffee she had ordered earlier, and walks to the counter.

 _I thought if I could rely on anyone to talk to, it'd be Yamato._ Sakura thinks. _Maybe something came up. Something with his sick grandma or something._

"Hello." A high-pitched voice says, snapping Sakura out of her daze. A petite, short girl appeared in front of her; she had silver, very long hair, and big blue eyes.

"Oh, uh, may I help you?" Sakura asks politely, but in reality she was a bit angry and sad and just wanted to go if Yamato wasn't even going to show up.

"I was sent by Yamato; he was held up by something. He told me to tell you he'll be here in fifteen minutes." The girl says all of a sudden.

Sakura, surprised, asks, "What?"

However, the mysterious girl simply walks out of the coffee shop, leaving Sakura bewildered. She stood by the register gasping like an idiot for about a minute before the cashier caught her attention, "Excuse me, ma'am, are you going to pay?"

Sakura shakes her head and sits back down, blushing lightly out of embarrassment.

Just as the young girl had said, Sakura saw Yamato enter the coffee shop after approximately fifteen minutes. A smile appeared on her face almost automatically, though it quickly faded when she took in his appearance – his hair was disheveled, and he was sweating heavily; his clothes were very ragged and mangled as if he had just been through a storm. . She quickly stood up and ran over to him.

"Yamato! Are you okay?" She asks worriedly.

Yamato looks down at her and smiles, "Yeah, I'm fine. No need to worry." Sakura doesn't believe him. "Come on, let's go sit down."

Sakura guides Yamato to the table before ordering two cups of coffee for them.

"What happened?"

Yamato grabs a napkin and pats his sweaty forehead. "I just overslept, that's all. I woke up only twenty minutes ago, and when I remembered about our meeting I called my cousin, who happened to be in the area, to come and check to see if you're still here." He explains hurriedly. "And my house is really far, you know…"

Sakura smiles, "Yeah, you've told me before. I've never been there, though."

Yamato puts his hand through his disheveled hair and smiles deviously, "Maybe I'll take you sometime."

"Okay, sounds good!" Sakura says, sipping her coffee.

"But, again, I'm really –"

"It's alright. At least you bothered to show up, right?"

Yamato's expression saddens. "No, it's not okay. It wasn't nice of me to do, but I promise it won't happen again."

He took the coffee from the waiter and continued speaking, "So, what was it that you wanted to talk about?"

Sakura noticeably tenses, and she suddenly becomes shy about it, since she didn't know where to start. "Remember my friends from karaoke?"

"Yeah. They were pretty nice; it'd be great to schedule a date with them again." Yamato replies politely.

Sakura began to fidget. "Well, uh… Do you remember the serious one? With the dark blue hair?"

Yamato smiles, "Your boyfriend, yes?"

Sakura blushes and says defensively, "He's not my boyfriend!" Crossing her arms over her chest, she adds, "But yes, him."

She continues, explaining everything – how Ogami came back after two years out of nowhere, and how they had that huge argument in her apartment, and especially how he was acting like a huge jerk to everyone. She made sure not to mention how he had accidentally punched her, because she didn't want any conflict between him and Ogami.

Yamato took another sip of his coffee as Sakura finishes, "I'm sorry, I just needed someone to talk to."

"It's alright. I want you to know you can always talk to me." Yamato began. "But, you know, maybe Ogami just doesn't know how to express himself. I'm sure he loves you as much as you love him."

Sakura spits out her coffee, "I-I-I don't love him!"

Yamato chuckles. "And denial isn't just a river in Egypt."

She continues to blush, and Yamato gets up from his seat and pays for the both of them.

"Huh? Do you have to leave so soon?" Sakura asks, evidently upset.

"You said you wanted to see my house, right?" Yamato confirms, smiling playfully. "Shall we?"

* * *

"Wow! Your house is huge!" Sakura manages to choke out through her gaping mouth and shocked expression. She couldn't help but be awed by the huge house in front of her. It was at least three stories high and was even bigger in width.

Her old home was extravagant, large, and super expensive, but nothing like this.

To her right, she could hear Yamato laughing. "Not what you expected, huh?"

"Not at all."

"Grandmother is heir to great fortune, I guess you could say." Yamato adds, taking Sakura's hand and guiding her to the front door.

When he opened the front door, she was more in awe, if that was even possible. It was much bigger on the inside. There was a long spiral staircase that seemed to shine and sparkle beautifully, and the furniture was absolutely gorgeous. From the look of it, she could tell that it was imported. Everything was absolutely beautiful.

"W-Wow." Sakura stutters. "This place is amazing!"

"Would you like something to drink?" He asks, entering the kitchen.

Sakura accepts the offer before carefully sitting down on the couch to wait for Yamato to return with the drinks.

Shortly after, Yamato returned with two drinks in his hands and an (adorable) smile on his face. "Here you go." He says, handing the glass of what seemed like pink lemonade to Sakura.

"What's this?" Sakura asks curiously.

"Oh, nothing. Just pink lemonade with a hint of something else." He says deviously, winking.

Sakura takes a hesitant sip from her cup, cringing slightly as tasted the pink beverage with a tinge of something stronger. "Is there alcohol in this?"

"Yeah, I guess you don't like it very much." Yamato says, taking the cup away from her and setting it on the table. "Sorry about that."

She just smiles. "It's okay. Just warn me next time.'

Yamato sits down beside her and asks, "Was that your first taste?"

She gives him a blank stare before answering, "Yeah. I've never been fascinated with the idea of getting… Let me say this straight… Shit-faced."

Yamato laughs, "You know, you're an interesting girl, Sakura."

They end up talking for well over half an hour, before Sakura asks for a bathroom.

"Yes, you can use the one upstairs. It's two doors to the left." Yamato informs.

Sakura nods, and proceeds to go up the stairs. She wonders if his grandma lived here with him, too, but thought it to be rude to ask. She mixed up the information he gave her, and walked into a room two doors to the right instead than the left by mistake.

It was dark, and the eerie silence made her a bit uneasy. After turning on the light, she deduces that she had accidentally walked into Yamato's bedroom. A bit curious, she walks over to the dresser next to his bed. On it was a picture frame displaying a picture of two male children no older than nine or ten, both with dark black hair and mesmerizing brown eyes.

One was smiling sheepishly posing with a peace sign, and the other was flashing a polite smile whilst the other put an arm around him. They were brothers, Sakura infers, noting that the sheepish one of the two seemed an awful lot like Yamato. The other seemed strangely familiar to her, but she decided to ignore that weird feeling. He was holding a little girl on his back, as in a piggy-back ride, who had her black hair in pigtails and a wide closed eye smile on her face along with holding cotton candy with her hand.

Sakura wondered why Yamato had never told her about the siblings in the picture, and decided she would try to ask him later on. She left the room and was sure to turn the light back off, proceeding to go to the bathroom and ponder on the previous event.

She went back downstairs, seeing Yamato drinking the pink lemonade on the dining chair, waiting for her.

She sits back down on the chair, and says, "I hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long."

Yamato smiles, "No, of course not."

Sakura looks around the house, trying to come up with a way to politely ask him about his siblings. "This house is huge. You really live alone here with your grandma, huh. Don't you have any siblings, or relatives?"

Yamato visibly tenses at the question, and Sakura was suddenly very sorry she had asked.

However, Yamato regains his composure and smiles weakly. "No."

Sakura pauses, a bit surprised at him lying but realizing the topic must be hard for him.

Instead of getting angry and calling him out for it, she smiles and nods.

After a few more minutes of chatting, Sakura looks at the time and says, "It's getting pretty late, I think I should I get going now. Thanks for inviting me over!"

Yamato smiles and nods, "Thank you for coming over."

Sakura begins to leave, but before that she says, "Oh, and, Yamato?"

Yamato looks startled, but says, "Yes?"

"You're always listening to me and hearing me out, so know that I'm always here for you, even to lend an ear." She says softly, smiling.

Yamato was caught off guard for a second, and it was noticeable that he was startled for a good five seconds before smiling and saying, "What makes you say that? Don't worry, I need nothing of the sort. But thank you."

Sakura returns the smile, and leaves, hoping Yamato would keep what she had said in mind.

* * *

Izumi kicks one of the guards protecting the Prime Minister in the face, "That was the last of them. Did you get the files, Hideki?"

A young, fairly tall man with bright orange hair walks in, "Yep!" He says rather cheerfully, holding open the files and smiling, hazel eyes you can't miss sparkling with achievement.

"Good. Now we can get the hell out of here." Izumi says, glancing at the little pieces of paper and sighing, "Your boyfriend's a pain for making us do all this crap for him."

Hideki smiles, "Trust me, I would know."

"Okay, well, I don't want to hear about your love life." Izumi says. Hideki only chuckles.

"Hey, where's Kenji at? I want to get the hell out of here already."

"Probably out poisoning people or something." Hideki answers, smiling nonetheless.

"But does he have to do that now? Ugh, I'm going to kill him when –"

"Oh, why am I being talked about behind my back?" A deep voice says threateningly, a snake rising up Izumi's neck. "Now, that just won't do."

"Cut the crap, Kenji!" Izumi growls, grabbing the snake and starting to strangle it (ironically) before the man from before made it retreat.

"Don't get your panties in a twist, I was just joking." The man, Kenji, says, holding his arms up as if to surrender. He had long green hair and wandering navy blue eyes, and was also a very lean individual.

"You damn –"

"Now, now, you two. Let's not fight, yes?" Hideki says, smiling almost too cheerfully. Even Izumi wasn't one to argue with him and his threatening aura, so she scoffs and backs off, as did Kenji.

"Well, anyway. This is the start of phase 3. Finally, we can take initiative on the plan." Hideki says.

"It's about damn time." Izumi comments. "I hope those Code: Breakers don't get in the way again."

"Those losers are nothing." Kenji says confidently. "It's the start of a new age, and they aren't part of it."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **Blunders**

Hikaru takes an intake of breath before sighing and forcing himself to turn the door knob. It was ghostly silent, if not for the loud beeping of the heart monitor and the patient's troubled, raspy breathing.

The nameplate at the door read _"Darcy Nobles"_ , which made Hikaru remember seeing the name tag on his waitress at the diner. The sight of her with various needles from machines attached to her just to keep her alive, and her legs bandaged up completely made Hikaru want to run and hide.

 _But he didn't._

Because he knew she was this ill, weak, and injured because of _him_ , because he wasn't good enough to keep his anger and powers in check.

She was the sole survivor, and though Hikaru had killed many people before, both intentionally and accidentally, he hadn't become numb to the concept of death. No matter how many times he killed, or how many people died around him because of him, seeing someone die or knowing it was his fault hurt just as much as the first time he experienced a death at his hands.

The memory burned in his chest, ate away at him constantly, creating a larger hollow in him that would soon make him numb to the concept of death and ultimately make him a monster.

Before that, however, he would weep, lament, and bathe himself in sorrow and despair. That was exactly what he did; sat on the plastic, wobbly chair beside the patient and held his face in his hands.

"H… Hello?" A raspy, soft voice says in a heavy accent, and Hikaru shoots up at the sound of someone's voice. Her brown, wavy hair was tied in to a bun, and her green eyes fluttered awake.

"Y… You're the man who was at the diner, aren't you?" She spoke slowly and with difficulty. Placing a bandaged hand on his cheek and using her thumb to wipe away a tear, she continues, "I wasn't able to get the sake to you; my apologies." She chuckles weakly, giving a smile to Hikaru.

"Maybe next time, when I'm up on my feet with my own five-star diner in Japan, I can serve us a cup of sake, on the house!" She says, getting too excited and breaking into a fit of coughs.

She giggles, and continues, lowering her hand and intertwining it with Hikaru's. "Wouldn't that be great?"

Yamato feels a lump in his throat, but squeezes her hand regardless, "Yeah. That would be wonderful." Hikaru mutters, feeling himself shake and tremble. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry, Darcy. You don't deserve this. You deserve so much better." He hears his voice crack and weaken, and melting himself into her warm embrace he continued to spurt apologies.

He didn't have the heart to tell her that she would never walk again, would never stand up on her feet in her diner and pass around orders on plates.

She would never deliver him the sake.

* * *

Ogami dodges the incoming punch from his opponent, and swiftly ignites his fire and burns the criminal. He stares at his fire, and, hearing the criminals' screams of pain, he can't help but think back to the incidents that had occurred.

" _You see?! That was just an excuse to avoid confrontation with me, wasn't it?"_

 _"You even have the audacity to not say sorry, do you? This is why no one likes you, you never show respect for anyone but yourself!"_

" _You're a coward, Ogami! All you ever do is run away!"_

He was never one to let words hurt him. But when he did, they burned him more than fire. Hearing those hurtful words coming from Sakura, though, his mind was overwhelmed with thoughts, memories, and words. His faded memory of her words made them harsher than they actually were.

 _Maybe Toki was right. Maybe all he could ever do was run away._

"Ogami! Get the hell out of the way, moron!"

Ogami blinks twice, and before he knew what was happening, Yui was in front of him kicking a criminal on his face and finishing him off. She turns around, hissing at Ogami. "You idiot, you would've been killed if it wasn't for me!"

A long, bleeding cut ran all along her right cheek – the consequence for saving Ogami.

He purses his lips.

"And I don't even get a thank you, do I?"

Ogami thinks back to Sakura's words, and in all honesty he was ashamed. He didn't want to be this way; over a girl.

"Th… Th…" He urges himself to say a single phrase of gratefulness, yet it suddenly becomes difficult to speak at Yui's awaiting stare, and his breath catches from all the struggling. He coughs from the saliva gone the wrong way.

"Tch. I shouldn't have expected anything from you. You disappoint me, Ogami." Yui spits, glaring at Ogami briefly before walking away without him.

 _Maybe Sakura was right, too. Maybe he was so weak that he couldn't even say thank you or sorry._

But as Yui walks away, completely out of earshot and sight, Ogami hears himself mutter, _"Thank you."_

He walks on, heading back to the place the Code: Breakers had chosen to meet; ever silently, yet his thoughts racing, mind elsewhere. He didn't hear the twig snap near him, or running footsteps come behind him.

 _Thud!_

"You sure that was him, Kiyome?" A man with medium-length black hair and gray eyes asks, staring at the navy-haired man's unconscious body laying on the floor.

"Why? You want to join him, Mizuki?" Kiyome offers, grinning and twirling her bright, curly blue hair and winking with one of her evergreen eyes.

"If you're so interested, why don't you?" Mizuki mutters under his breath. "Let's just take him and go."

* * *

"Ogami hasn't been back in a while, don't you think?" Heike asks Sakura and the rest of the Code: Breakers. "This wouldn't be happening if you had just followed my directions and come back with him, Yui. You know the Maji might be looking to capture or kill us. It isn't safe to travel alone."

He sips his tea, waiting for Yui to rampage at his scolding.

"Ugh! It wasn't my fault he was being so pissy, annoying, and pathetic! And anyway, he should've followed me! You can't expect me to freaking babysit him!" Yui yells angrily.

"Right, well, the fact still stands that the Maji are out and about." Heike says, sighing. "But I'm sure Ogami can handle himself."

"Of course he can! He's just behaving like a child over what happened between us. It's ridiculous, really, and in all honesty I'm not worried, not that I should be." Sakura says, crossing her arms.

"Right." Toki says sarcastically, grinning.

* * *

 _3 Days Later_

"What's so important that we had to waste our time coming here?" Yui asks, groaning and placing her feet on the table.

"Yeah, for real!" Toki adds.

Sakura rolls her eyes, "If Heike called us here on such short notice, it must be important, right?"

Heike nods, "I got a call from the government very recently. Apparently, they've called Ogami for missions several times over the past three days, and not once has he answered." He sighs, stopping to pour himself some tea. "Which is quite unusual, no doubt. He more than often answers phone calls from the government, and from what they've told me he always returns any missed calls from them, as you all should. However, he hasn't returned any calls, and has somehow disabled the GPS installed in his cell. This is quite a concern, yes? I believe Ogami is past his rebellious phase, after all."

Silence overwhelms the room.

"W-Well, you don't know that! He's just being a baby over what-"

"You continue to say that, Sakurakouji, but Ogami isn't quite a drama king to cause such a ruckus." Heike pauses. "He's more probable to keep himself from causing any unnecessary drama."

Sakura waits for someone, _anyone_ -Toki, Yui, Yuuki, Prince - to object and agree with her on her inference that Ogami was just overreacting, and that he was perfectly fine. However, no one did, hence the thick silence in the room.

"Toki? You know Ogami is quick to criticize us and make a scene, right?" Sakura says, but the question is left lingering and unanswered for quite a while.

"I don't think he'd make a ruckus this big, you know?" Toki says, sighing.

"Well, then, what do _you_ guys think happened to him, then?" Sakura asks, voice shaky. "He can handle himself, right?"

Heike opens his mouth to answer, but the sound of a ringing phone interrupts him.

Sakura takes the vibrating, ringing phone from her pocket, and the caller ID leaves Sakura's mouth gaping.

"It's Ogami!" She chirps, sounding more happy about it than she had intended to. "I-I mean, it's Ogami. See, you guys? I told you, he's fine!"

Yui takes the phone from her and puts it on speaker after answering, placing it on the table.

"Oi, Ogami, how freaking long do you intend to keep-"

Yui is interrupted when a voice emerges from the phone, one that didn't belong to Ogami.

"Hello~ How are you, Sakura-chan?" A voice asks sarcastically on the other line. Sakura grabs the hone, concern taking over her senses as she realized the voice belonged to one of her kidnappers. Renzou.

Before she can say anything, Renzou continues. "We have your little Code: Breaker boyfriend~! Why don't you tell us how you're doing today, Ogami-kun~?"

There is a brief silence, perhaps Renzou giving Ogami a chance to answer, though Ogami didn't reply; maybe he wasn't there in the first place.

"Ogami's just a little shy~!" Renzou says. "But-"

"Stop wasting time, you moron!" A feminine voice scolds, roughly taking the phone away from the playful man. "Listen, you idjits. We have Ogami with us, and whether you believe us or not is up to you. Just know that if you Code: Breakers don't come to the black, abandoned garage next to Saltwater Bridge by nine P.M. today, we _will_ kill him. You have our word."

Izumi seemed like she was about to hang up, but Renzou took the phone back and started to say, "By the way, Sakura-chan, the only reason we called _you_ in particular is because you were the first person on Ogami's speed di- _Ow!_ What the _hell_ , Ogami! Izumi, why didn't you tie him up corre-"

The call ends.

Sakura shakes away her blush at hearing she was on Ogami's speed dial, and starts to stomp to the door. Rage, concern, and fear clouded her thoughts.

"Sakurakouji, where do you think you're going?" Heike asks.

"To save Ogami, of course! What else?" Sakura answers hastily.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. Not yet." Heike says.

"Well, what do you expect me to do?! Stand here and wait for him to die?!" Sakura asks, her voice shaky and eyes watering with tears.

Heike was about to answer, but Toki interrupted.

"Sakura, we need to make a good plan in the four hours that we have. If we march in recklessly, we'll surely get ourselves killed." Toki says seriously.

"But Ogami-"

"Ogami _this_ , Ogami _that_. It's funny how you're freaking out over him getting kidnapped when you were the one trash-talking him just a few minutes ago." Yui says harshly.

"That was different!" Sakura shouts. Yui just folds her arms in return before retaliating.

"Oh, _different_ , huh? Ha! That doesn't change the fact you weren't worried at all earlier."

Sakura was furious at this point, thinking, _Who does this girl think she is?_

She yells, "You don't know anything about me, so don't-"

She is interrupted by the cold laugh coming from Yui's lips, "Oh, Sakura-chan. I know a lot about you."

 _"Yui."_ Heike's warning went unnoticed.

"I know about how you were so head over heels about Ogami."

 _"Yui."_

"I know about how you were so pathetic and defenseless that Ogami had to come and save your sorry ass."

Sakura opens her mouth to intervene but was quickly silenced by Yui.

"I also know about how Ogami didn't care about you enough to even say goodbye to you."

 _"Yui!"_ Another warning. Ignored.

"Not even your parents care enough to be around."

"Yui, _stop_ , goddammit!" This time Toki was the one to call out her name, but Yui just smirks, unflinching at Sakura.

The angry expression that once covered Sakura was gone. She stared, still, at Yui with tears surfacing around her eyes.

Quickly, unexpectedly, she ran out of the room.

"Sakura-chan!" Toki yells desperately, running to the door. No luck. He turns to Yui and gives her a furious look. "You're such an _asshole_ , you know that?"

She rolls her eyes and walks away, muttering, "Whatever."

* * *

Sakura didn't know where she was going but she didn't care. She just needed to get the hell out of there.

Eventually, she was out in the rain on a street she didn't recognize. She wasn't sure what she should do, stranded, cold, and alone, and she couldn't help but feel like she was being watched.

She took out her cellphone and punched in Yamato's number, asking him if he could come pick her up.

 _"Of course."_ His quick answer.

Fifteen minutes later, he pulled over in a car she didn't recognize and quickly rushed her in the passenger seat.

"Are you okay? What were you doing in this part of town? Why are you crying?" He asks her questions, removing his coat from his body and placing it over hers.

Sakura didn't answer any of his questions.

The drive was quiet once Yamato got the hint that Sakura's didn't want to answer any questions. During the ride, he received a phone call, but his only reply was, "I'm busy right now."

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at his house. He led the way inside and got her a cup of water. After taking sip from her glass cup, a brief silence fell upon them.

"I'm sorry I bothered so late."

His eyes shot up from the ground at hearing the apology, before he smiled.

"There's no need to apologize. You didn't bother me at all." He stops a moment before continuing. "Sakura, tell me what happened."

For a brief moment, she wanted to tell him everything. About the Code: Breakers, Ogami, and the organization that was after her. She wanted to let it all out, leave nothing held in.

But the rational side of her told her to keep quiet.

So she decided to reveal something else about herself.

"Did I ever tell you about what happened to my parents?"

Yamato didn't answer straight away, so she took that as a sign to continue.

"It's not surprising you don't know. The only other person who knows about what happened is Aoba. And she doesn't even know all the details."

She stops once again, taking a deep breath.

This time, Yamato broke the silence. "Sakura, you don't have to force yourself to tell me."

Sakura shakes her head, "You deserve to know."

She closes her eyes momentarily, and begins, "It was a little after the Code: Breakers left me, before you and I met. I was sad about Ogami- well, everyone- having to leave me like that, so I went to Aoba's house to talk about it and distract myself. It was a fun Tuesday night. I really was enjoying myself, you know? I was starting to cherish Aoba's friendship a lot more than usual, and it was healthy to avoid bottling up my feelings. I was walking home after a long night at her house, and, from so far from my house, I heard ambulances and police cars and I saw so many lights and fire and, and... I thought, you know, that _can't_ be my house. It's probably some other house.

But when I did get there, and there was police tape everywhere and people gathered and people taking dead bodies inside some kind of vehicle, all right in front of my burning mansion, I mean, I still didn't want to accept it. Even now. I had pushed past all the other people, crossed the police tape, and was asked to step back. I told the police that that was _my_ mansion burning. I _lived_ there. Those dead people they were taking away were my family, well, considered. I asked where my parents were. They had to be there somewhere, right? I was waiting for them to pull up in a car and hug me and tell me they were glad I wasn't in there when it happened. But they didn't. The police looked at me with this pitying, sad look and told me they were missing. They don't know what caused the fire. Or what happened. I'll never know."

She didn't realize she had started to cry.

"Sakura, I'm so sorry." Yamato says softly, pulling her into a hug. "I'm so sorry that happened to you, that you had to go through that."

She hugs him back even tighter. "I want my mom, Yamato. I want my dad. I want everything to go back to how it used to be. I don't want this." She mumbles between sobs.

He strokes her hair. "I know."

They stay in that position for a long time, holding each other for support while Sakura cried into his shoulder.

Yamato pulls away from the hug momentarily. He pushes the hair from her forehead away and kisses her forehead softly for a few seconds. "It'll be okay."

His phone starts to ring, and cursing to himself he pulls the phone out of his pocket. "I have to take this. Do you mind?" He asks cautiously.

Sakura shakes her head.

"Okay, I''ll be quick." Yamato walks a few steps away into the kitchen, but Sakura can still hear him clearly.

"No... I can't. I'm busy... ... I'm telling you, I can't... ... I'm doing something right now. Don't call me anytime soon."

Yamato hangs up the phone angrily. He walks back towards Sakura as if nothing has happened.

"Are you sure you don't want to go? That seemed important." She asks worriedly.

Yamato responds by sitting back on the couch and taking her hands in his. "Nothing is more important than you right now."

* * *

"Damn, he's unconscious." Kiyome says in disappointment. "And he didn't even scream that much, little twerp. Has too much pride."

"He is a strong one, isn't he?" Mizuki says, impressed.

"Well, he's not as fun as I thought he would be." Kiyome states. "And he didn't give any information."

"When he wakes up, you can try again. After the meeting."

Kiyome opens her mouth to say something back, but is interrupted by Hibiki barging in.

"Damn brat!" He says angrily.

"What is it, Hibiki? Is Hikaru finally going into his rebellious phase?" Kiyome playfully asks.

"Be quiet."

Kiyome just chuckles in response.

"I'm going to kill that idiot when I get my hands on him." Hibiki says angrily, angry about his brother's rude and foolish actions.

"Ease up on the kid. He's probably got a girlfriend or something." Mizuki says nonchalantly.

"Wait. What?" Hibiki asks, confused.

"Yeah, don't you know?" Kiyome adds. "He has a thing for the girl that the leader is planning to use for his plan."

Hibiki finally puts it all together; why his brother always ditched him more than usual and was a lot more busy.

"That _idiot_!"Hibiki yells.

Kiyome and Mizuki both jump at the sudden outburst.

"I specifically told that bastard to stay away from her from now on! His mission to keep watch over her has been over for _months_!" Hibiki shouts as he opens the door to head out, but someone stops him in his tracks.

 _"Leader."_ Hibiki says in surprise at the man before him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **Urgent Matters & Sibling Quarrels**

Sakura sat there, snuggled into Yamato's chest and relishing in the mere essence of someone's close, reassuring comfort. He sobbing had stopped (perhaps momentarily), her strained, liquified mascara and eyeliner stained down her cheeks and dripped onto Yamato's expensive, plain button-up shirt.

Yamato had been stroking her hair for quite a while now, his breathing soft and barely audible. He hadn't moved, thinking that perhaps she had fallen asleep in his arms. Ultimately, she needed rest.

She couldn't think straight; her mind was swiveling with anger, worry, and love for Ogami and unease towards Yui's hurtful, stingy words. The eating, painful memories of that day had corrupted her mind once again. She needed to get her mind off of things.

She needed a _distraction_.

Slowly, carefully, she sat up in Yamato's lap, rubbing her strained, watery eyes and trying to wipe away the messed up makeup on her stained cheeks with the bottom of her shirt.

Yamato realizes he was staring, and quickly turns his head away and averts his eyes, placing his hand over his mouth. "Sakura, um, maybe you should get up to, you know, clean up."

Sakura guesses she was making him uncomfortable, and, blushing, leans over to get off of him but accidentally placing her hand on something sensitive.

He jumps up, and, due to reflex, shoves Sakura aside momentarily. She falls over on the couch, and takes hold of his collar and brings him down with her. They stay in that position for a while, complete silence overwhelming them if not for the soft ticking of the old, traditional clock on the other side of the room.

"I— Uh, s-sorry, I'll—" Yamato stumbles from word to word, trying to find the right phrase to apologize through the very embarrassing, awkward situation he got himself in. He desperately tries to avert his eyes and calm his beating heart, and yet Sakura smiles calmly at him.

 _The perfect distraction._

She begins to unbutton her shirt, all the way to her mid-stomach. Shocked, Yamato stares, his eyes widening at the unforeseen turn of events. She leans in closer to Yamato, going for a kiss, and yet Yamato comes back to his senses and pushes her away, getting up quickly and leaving her hanging.

"Y... Yamato?" Sakura says, her voice raising in pitch as if asking why. She blinks twice in surprise at the blunt rejection.

"I'm sorry, Sakura, it's just—"

"You, too?" She asks, her eyes watering. "Am I not good enough for you? For anyone to be around?"

"No, Sakura, I— That's not what I meant."

"No one ever means it, though, do they?" Sakura says, her voice breaking.

Yamato rushes over there, and gently pushes her hands away from her face. "It's nothing like that, Sakura."

His voice was shaky, and his breath caught, as if he was nervous.

He whispers, "If there's one thing I could ever want to do with my time, it's to spend every second of it with you."

Sakura takes an intake of breath at hearing this, and an overwhelming sense of guilt overtakes her. Her feelings for Yamato were nothing like that; she had just wanted a distraction, really.

"Yamato, I—"

"No, you don't have to say anything." Yamato intervenes, a pained smile on his face. "It's okay."

His phone buzzes, and when he fetches it from his pocket he sees countless messages. He looks at the time, and curses sharply under his breath.

"I have to go." He says, grabbing his keys and putting on his coat, heading for the door. Sakura follows him and inquires worriedly, "What? Yamato—"

"You can stay here, if you want." He says. "I'll be back shortly."

" _Ugh_. Why do _I_ have to help look for that douchebag?" Yui questions irritably, shaking her head.

Heike sighs, and stops abruptly. He turns around, and stares Yui straight in her eyes, his carefree smile gone and replaced by an angry, annoyed and menacing frown. He was absolutely done taking her shit.

"First of all, _sixth_ , he is your _comrade_. You have no room to talk; it's not like you're any less of a douche, now are you?"

Yui stays silent for a few seconds, not entirely expecting him to continue. "Heike—"

"I mean, just look at your absolutely _atrocious_ manners. When did I ever give you consent to call me by my first name? Last time I checked, we aren't friends. I am your, may I add, _superior_ co-worker. And I am sick and tired of taking your nonsense."

"I thought—"

Heike steps closer to the startled, surprised Yui, closing most of the remaining distance between them.

" _No_ , sixth, we are not friends. You can't expect everyone to love you just because of your pretty face. Your disrespectful, horrendous manners and ugly nature surely do _not_ help at all. If anything, it _repulses_ people. Your depressing past does not excuse your excessive rudeness, simply put."

He continues to stare at her, stone cold, and as he steadies his breath he turns around, starting to walk. "Second, this is some sort of a punishment. You don't know Sakura as well as you think you do. Her life is not simple, and I'd think you'd be the first person to understand that. Not to mention you left Ogami _alone_ during a mission. I don't care if you think the mission was over, sixth. The mission is _never_ over for us Code: Breakers. And you _never_ leave a comrade behind."

Yui stands there, a bit shocked and startled at Heike's sudden outburst, and inevitably a little offended. However, she quickly regains her composure.

She catches up to Heike, and slaps his butt. "You're kind of _hot_ when you get all alpha, you know that?"

She winks at Heike, and turns around, beginning to walk away quite quickly and confidently. Heike never got like that with just anyone, so she felt a little special.

Heike was red up to his ears at Yui's deliberately absurd manners.

"You— Who do you think you are? Did anything I told you go even through to you?"

"Nope!" Was her quick to reply. She raises the volume on her music-playing phone, continuing to walk and expecting Heike to follow.

He did, after letting out a long sigh, calming himself. "Why do I even put up with you?"

"You know you love me." Yui teases, grinning.

Hikaru comes rushing in, closing the door behind him and breathing heavily. He was very late.

"Look who decided to show up." A deep, menacing voice says. Heike snaps up at the sound of his Leader's voice, and sees the leader sitting cross-legged on a chair, his boyfriend standing unfazed at his side.

Hibiki stood at the corner of the room, composed and unmoving.

Hikaru takes a sharp intake of breath, and suddenly he wishes he had listened to his brother's warnings. "W-Where's everyone else?" He stutters, scared out of his mind.

"Oh? Are you referring to our organization you seem to care _so_ much about?" The leader asks, his tone sarcastic. He arises from his seat, and stands very close to Hikaru. "Because, it seems to me like you had _much_ more important matters to take care of than me, or the organization, or the plan we've dedicated so many years on."

"I, uh, I'm sorry, Leader, I just had to take care of something and I lost track of time, and—"

"Something more important than _me_? Is that all I am to you, Hikaru?" He asks, a hurt, perhaps joking expression on his face. "I thought we had more of a connection."

Hikaru opens his mouth to say something; however, the Leader begins to choke him with a twist of his hand, bringing him up into the air without the need of touch.

"And _you_ ," The Leader turns around, staring Hibiki right in the eye and starting to choke him, too. "You defended him; lied to me. 'Oh, he's busy right now. I'm sure he'll be back soon.' Back soon, my _ass_. I've been waiting in this empty room for two _goddamn_ hours. And for what? For _you_ , and you don't even seem the least bit sorry, or interested."

Hikaru gags through the choking force, trying to speak. "N... No... I'm... ...Very sorry..."

"What was that? I didn't quite catch that." The Leader says, releasing Hikaru and putting a hand over his ear. "Was that an apology I heard?"

Hikaru breaks into a fit of coughs, falling to the floor and bowing down. "I'm so sorry, Leader. It was a dumb mistake; I will never let it happen again. You and the organization, the plan are most important to me. I'm so sorry."

The Leader smiles at Hikaru. "I see." He turns to Hibiki, who he was still choking on the floor. He releases him. "Do you have anything to say?"

After steadying himself, Hibiki stays silent for a while, a lingering silence overwhelming the tense room.

"I did nothing wrong. I have nothing to apologize for." Hibiki murmurs, his voice fully audible throughout the echoing room. "Especially not to _you_."

The Leader's smile drops momentarily, replaced by a menacing frown. He opens his closed eyes, and shoots an intense glare that could quite literally _kill_.

Hibiki can't help but flinch, yet he rejects any chance to apologize.

"Alright. I see," The Leader says with a smile returning on his face. The smile wasn't comforting or reassuring, however, it made them uneasy. "That's fine. Let's go, Hide."

Hideki smiles at Hikaru and Hibiki, staring at Hibiki.

 _"You shouldn't have done that."_

He says it with a smile, nodding at Hikaru and following his boyfriend out the door, closing the door behind them.

A long, uncomfortable silence overtook the room once again.

Hibiki was still on the floor, coughing lightly and avoiding his brother's gaze.

"What the _hell_ , Hibiki?! Do you have a death wish? Why didn't you just apologize?" Hikaru yells angrily, sweat beading down his face.

Hibiki stands, letting his hair cover his eyes before staring, unmoving at his brother. "I don't see why I should apologize to the likes of him."

"He _raised_ us, Hibiki. He cares for us, wants only the best for us. And yet you push him away at every turn like a fool."

" _You're_ the fool, Hikaru, if you're dumb enough to trust someone like him."

They'd had this argument many times before. It was repetitive.

"Why are you so against him, Hibiki? Why can't you apologize?" He pries.

"Do you even know what he wanted me to apologize for?"

"No, but it was probably—"

" _No_ , brother. You're no smarter than a rat. You follow him around without a word as if you fucking _worship_ him. He's not a god, Hikaru, he's a shitty wannabe version of one." Hibiki spits, glaring at his brother.

"How can you talk about him like that? He was the only one there for us after, after..." Hikaru trails off.

"After _you_ killed our parents. After you killed sister and ruined my damn life." Hibiki seethes, stepping closer to his brother. "The only reason you stick to him like glue is because he cleaned up your damn mess. Your fear of isolation is ridiculous, Hikaru."

The impact of Hikaru's fist on his face was unexpected and came without warning.

Hikaru stands, his fist bloody and his breathing unsteady and heavy.

Hibiki wipes the blood from his face, and mutters, "So that's how you want to play?"

Hikaru swings his arm once again, though Hibiki grabs his arm and lowers him, kicking him with his knee on his brother's stomach.

He coughs; Hibiki tightens his grip on his arm and swings him around, throwing him on the floor. He was panting, coughing up blood.

Hibiki grabs Hikaru's collar and leans in real close. "Listen here, _brother_. That dumb girl will never love you. Not now, not ever. You're just a goddamn tool for sex and listening to her pathetic troubles. You're nothing more to her. But you know who is? That damn first Code: Breaker. He's absolute trash is what he is, and you're just so much better than him, aren't you? I get it, I do; it isn't fair. He doesn't deserve her as much as you do. Well, here's a wake-up call, brother: _Life_ isn't fair; it never has been, never will be. So get over yourself, and get your priorities straight." Hibiki says, his tone malicious and angered.

"Hikaru, do you want to die? Do you want me to die?"

Hikaru shakes his head so fast he gets dizzy.

 _They only had each other._ It would surely be a _tragedy_ , should something happen to either of them.

"Then make a goddamn choice already. That girl is going to die no matter what you do. So, tell me, brother; will you choose _me_ , the organization, and the plan, or will you choose that damn _whore_?"

Hikaru flinches, and slurs, "S... She's not..."

"I don't care, Hikaru. If you can't even make a choice, you're fucking _pathetic_."

He began to walk away, about to open the door and leave his brother sprawled out on the floor.

"I... I choose _you_ , brother." Hikaru mumbles, starting to get up and grab his brother's leg. "I'll forget about her. I'll stop talking to her and cut any relations at all. I'll bury my feelings, throw them all away."

 _For you._

 _I'll do it all for you._

Hibiki shakes Hikaru off of his leg, and sighs, offering a hand.

He accepts it, trembling and shaken, and is immediately pulled up by a seemingly unfazed Hibiki.

"I'm... I guess I went too far." Hibiki mutters something else under his breath, most probably an apology. He leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

Sakura sits on the couch, switching the channel on the large television. She couldn't concentrate on any channel, her mind thinking back on what had occurred.

She didn't like Yamato. Not _romantically_ , at least. She didn't. She didn't share his feelings.

 _That was so rude and insensitive._ She thinks to herself, sliding a hand through her hair. She knew she had hurt him pretty bad, and she really couldn't feel worse.

Sakura sighs.

Through her sulking she notices a disk hanging on the shelf on the television stand. She stands up, walking over there and taking hold of it before it fell off the edge.

 _June 5, 1999._

She stares at the disc in curiosity; reluctantly, she enters the disk into the player.

She changes the television mode in order to play the disk, and it starts to play a bit abruptly.

Yamato, a small four or five year old in the video, was too close to the camera, giggling as he shush's the camera. He was walking somewhere in a house, the camera unfocused and unsteady.

He wraps an arm around a boy's shoulder, who was reading a book on a couch in the living room, and moves the camera so that it focuses on the two of them. The other boy, around seven or eight, had wavy black hair that almost reached his eyes, and brown eyes; he looked a lot like Yamato.

"As much as I love muffins, I love big brother Hibiki!" Yamato chirps, smiling widely and tightening his grip.

"Don't touch me!" The boy, Hibiki, mutters loudly, shoving Yamato's arm away and grunting, agitated. "And turn that off, before you wake sister." He was referring to the peaceful, sleeping baby on the crib.

"Aw, don't be a spoil-sport, brother!" Yamato cooes, still smiling. He yelps when Hibiki reaches for the camera and switches it off.

The video ends.

 _Hibiki... Why does that name sound familiar?_

Sakura realizes the man who kidnapped her and asked her to collaborate with her had the same name as Yamato's brother in the video. They both had similar features in personality and appearance, but, then again, Hibiki was a common name.

She hopes it's only a mere coincidence.

Hikaru gets out of the car, keys in his hands as he limps towards the door to his house. He unlocks the door and walks inside, finding Sakura staring shocked at the blank television.

She turns around, and yelps.

"Yamato! What happened to you?"


End file.
